16 17 News malla....., SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2018 News maltaloda, SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2018 Women make policy, not President coffee •• an activist at a Agatha Barbara recent feminist rally in (1982-1987) Valletta sends a clear road to message women's suffrage an ultimate homage to mothers." When women's suffrage finally arrived Two female candidates with the MacMichael Constitution, the Helene Buhagiar contested with the Dem­ Church turned its attention to guiding ocratic Action Party, a party that had gained women on how to exercise their newly ac­ ground because of the vacuum left by the and beyond quired right. Constitutionals and because of the state of the Nationalist Party at that time. This MacMichael was composed of traditional entitled elites Sir Harold MacMichael was a seasoned that included landowners and respected Women's enfranchisement and the nation-building project in MaLta Cambridge-educated colonial administra­ professionals who wanted to preserve their tor who had cut his teeth in Khartoum and privileges. They fiercely opposed social and as Governor of Tanganyika. economic reform, particularly the introduc­ Two days after his arrival in Malta Mac­ tion of any form of taxation, and during this Michael addressed the population on period they greatly feared prospects of na­ fare, that were inspired by socialist ideals, or The Nationalists were in a state of disarray in support of the Women of Malta Associa­ Rediffusion (cable radio) where he ac­ tionalisation. in appeals that aimed to empower privileged • with their leader Enrico Mizzi being tainted tion's application to be represented in the knowledged that his main challenge as Helene Buhagiar was of course instrumen­ women who already enjoyed status, a degree by his pronounced Italianate sympathies. National Assembly. "It is the opinion of this Constitutional Commissioner was to rec­ tal because of her appeal to female voters. of education, property and social capital but The Labour Party emerged as a major new Assembly that the admission of the delegates oncile Maltese aspirations for self-govern­ From a woman's point of view she promised were still not eligible to vote. force, especially after it formed the Labour of this Association will mean the acceptance ment with the imperial interests of Britain. to devote all her attention to housing and Mabel Strickland belonged to the latter Front with the General Workers' Union. The of the principle of equal rights for women in It was on the 17 July 1947 that the Chair­ food supplies. She also dreamed of national category. Ten years after the granting of National Assembly's first meeting took place the political life of the island including the man of the Assembly presented MacMi­ unity where parties cooperate so that the self-government, Strickland pleaded before on 20th January 1945 at the Palace, in Val­ right to vote in parliamentary elections". On chael with a draft Constitution, the result best brains in Malta give their input to solve Barbara deserved to become Minister... at a Royal Commission on Maltese Affairs pro­ letta. It included representatives of the press that day the Association was admitted to the of two long years of intense and heated difficulties, in an effort that would resemble least in recognition of women's important UNIVERSAL suffrage opened the way for all posing amendments to the Constitution of and Mabel Strickland was nominated on be­ Assembly but the biggest gain was ~he agree­ debates. Later that year MacMichael pub­ a 'National Government'. role in getting the Labour Party elected". women and many disenfranchised men, to 1921 to "consider the equity of bringing the half of The Times of Malta. ment in the principle on the notion of equal reinforced the position of the Church and lished his report, stating: "The most im­ In its electoral programme her party She did eventually become the first Mal­ exercise their right to vote and participa~e in political status of the women of Malta more In the second sitting, a delegate challenged political rights. also served to keep clergy-members on portant [change] was the inclusion of the promised to defend female workers via new tese cabinet minister in 1955. After 35 years elections for the first time in Malta's history. into line with that enjoyed by the women of the presence of "a woman in the Assembly" Both Burns de Bono and Buhagiar were al­ message. After the war, the newspaper had principle of female suffrage on a basis of laws that would be enacted "to regulate the as a parliamentarian Agatha Barbara was The trajectory of women's emancipation is English and other self-governing units of the and stated that this constituted a precedent lowed to participate on behalf of the Asso­ come under the direction of Mgr Salvino equality between the sexes in all respects." employment of women and children in in­ appointed as the first woman president on very often omitted from the prevailing nar­ British Commonwealth". and might be construed as meaning that ciation. When the Association was formally Bartoli Galea who embarked on a 30-year The electoral campaign for the first re­ dustry". 15th February, 1982. A series of ftrsts ... ratives that reinforce our sense of nation­ In 1931 she managed to persuade 428 women had the right to vo~e in general elec­ approved on 16 March 1945, one of the most ' stint as its editor. An examination of Lehen sponsible government under the new con­ Agatha Barbara came from a background where she mostly stood alone. hood. This commemoration attempts to re­ women to sign a petition, which she sent to tions. Although this man's views on women .prolific opponents of female suffrage in the is-Sewwa's coverage of the debates of the stitution took place throughout the sum­ that was completely alien to the elite mem­ dress the prevalent collective amnesia about a Royal Commission. The petition stated: were ubiquitous in Malta in the 1940s, his press, William E. Chetcuti, lamented in The Assembly, relevant articles and Letters to mer of 1947. bership of the Women of Malta Associa"­ A slow process women's place in history. "We feel that the time has undoubtedly motion to bar her on the grounds that she Bulletin that it "would seem that by a bare the Editor, show that the Church in Malta For the first time ever the parties needed tion. Barbara, a young teacher with solid The vote to women did in some ways help After World War I, an all-male National come for the recognition of the right of was a woman, found no one to second it. majority of only 10 votes, in the absence of intensely resented the notions of "equal to appeal to a wider electoral base. A to­ work-class roots from Zabbar, entered the to re-define the political landscape but the Assembly convened in Valletta in early 1919 wome)). in Malta to take part in the delib­ about 160 members and with the aid of the rights" for women and "women's emanci­ tal of 140,000 electors were entitled to go political arena with the Labour Party after process was slow. Seventy years after the to discuss self-government. It comprised a erations of the Parliament of the island, in Reggie Miller open vote, our small band of budding wom­ pation". to the polls, 54.4% of which were women. gaining sympathy within her own commu­ MacMichael Constittftion, we can argue wide spectrum of Maltese civil society, but view of their already active interest in pub­ The Labour Front was ready to push for en politicians have, with the gallant half of The proponents of women's suffrage had They needed to elect 40 members to sit in nity because of voluntary work. that the dearth of female representation in it faHed to reflect the developments that had lic life ... We sincerely believe that women's universal suffrage. At the helm of the GWU, ,several vote hunters, contrived to achieve a gargantuan task in the face of this power­ the Legislative Assembly. The Times of Malta (12th August 1947) Parliament amounts to a serious democratic taken place in London in the post-war pe­ influence and increased participatioll in the Reggie Miller was fully aware of trends that what they call their emancipation". ful opposition. When a general election was announced published a report of a Labour meeting in deficit. riod, when in 1918, British women acquired public life of Malta will be conducive to the were slowly catching up in Europe, where His article was entitled: "Women Minding In November 1945, the new Archbish­ between the 25-27 October 1947, there was Paola, where Barbara appears in a party ac­ In 2017 the percentage of female Parlia­ the right to vote and the right to contest better government or these islands ... " equality had emerged as a new theme on the Men's Business" - just one illustration of the op delivered a speech aimed at 'married no stampede by women to run for Parlia­ tivity. The newspaper observed: "Miss Bar­ mentarians is almost the same as that of elections. One whole year later, the Royal Commis­ political and the trade union agendas. tone used by many opponents of female suf­ women and mothers' where he cleverly ex­ ment but all parties needed to canvass des­ bara is the first woman to address a public the election of 1950. The Inter-Parliamen­ Prof Godfrey Pirotta published records of sion answered that the petition did not seem However, segments of the union repre­ frage at that time. pressed "his intense love of a loving father" perately to clinch the female vote.